Today was the first day of the Kokufu Ten. My wife, Elenore, and I had planned to attend the first day, but things changed when we arrived at the Green Club - this is the vendors' selling area.

We ended up spending the whole day here - the trees on display were just fantastic. From the smallest mini bonsai to the mighty '2 to 4 man lift' trees. There would have to have been over 1,000 trees for sale.

Bonsai pots - well, there were 1000’s to choose from. I found the bonsai were expensive. There is a big market in Japan for pots, especially when it comes with the artist's name. Little pots, the size of a thimble, can cost over $40.

Did I mention how cold it is? Well, it VERY cold here - it must be snowing somewhere close by!

Bonsai display tables were quite expensive, but they are very nice, and great quality. If you look around, you can find some good, cheaper tables. (We have already bought 4 larger tables - it was a good idea at the time, but now... to get them home!

Bonsai TreesYou can start from $50 and go up to $100,000 plus. But, if we could buy trees and take them home, you would have a number of high quality trees for your collection at around $2,000 outlay.

I hope you enjoy the photos of the Green Club. We’ll be going to the exhibition tomorrow and I have been told we can take photos, but no flash. Fabulous!Lance and Elenore

You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.

I'd have to where a bib, with all that on display for sale. I'd be constantly drooling Cheers Peterb

Hi Peter,To really appreciate the Kokufu-Ten you have to stand in front of these trees so you can appreciate what I call the 'wow factor'. You can look at as many photos of trees as you like, but you will never have the same feeling as standing in front of them.

My favourite tree in the whole Kokufu-Ten - a White Pine, and it was for sale at the Green Club in the vendors selling area. It was sold on the first day and it is around 200 years old. The sad thing about it was the sellers removed the tree that night, so if you did not attend the first day you missed seeing it.

There was a maple tree for sale and I asked the the person looking after the sales stand how much would I have to pay for a maple tree like this. His reply was over 4 million yen. Just a quick conversion would make it close to $50,000 Australian dollars.

Heading back to Australia tonight, after visiting the suiseki display, held in conjunction with Kokufu_Ten. I will post more photos once I'm back home. Lance

You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.

SLR5000 wrote:To really appreciate the Kokufu-Ten you have to stand in front of these trees so you can appreciate what I call the 'wow factor'. You can look at as many photos of trees as you like, but you will never have the same feeling as standing in front of them.

MountainFrost wrote:Im really referring to their amazing junipers and pines which are probably hundreds of years old and have been collected. I don't know if you can find that sort of quality available here.

We work with what we have - True enjoyment can still be found from growing a seedling & watching it advance, while maintaining & styling as you wish. The spirit of practicing bonsai is surely not the oldest piece of material you can go dig up, or spend huge $$$ for the sake of obtaining “quality”?